Extracurriculars
by lostinthememories
Summary: Things have always been the same for Katniss and Gale. They hate almost everyone but each other. They not only like one another as friends, but sometimes as more. And they've both been in Future Farmers of America since ninth grade, with the same kids as always. Things change a little, however, when Peeta Mellark and Madge Undersee walk into the first FFA meeting of junior year. AU


**_Hey, guys! School's been out for a couple weeks and I finally have some time. I'm halfway done with the next chapters of FTFNP and Heat-I'm so sorry, I've been going through a lot and lacking a lot of inspiration. However, this idea came into my head and it was too hard to not write it all down. I'm not sure how long it will be, but it's not a oneshot/twoshot or anything. I hope you like it, and please review! It makes my day._**

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"What the _hell,_" Katniss muttered, criticism and hardcore judgment laden in her voice, "is _Peeta Mellark_ doing at a _Future Farmers of America_ meeting?"

Gale shrugged nonchalantly. "I was wondering the same thing about Madge Undersee," he says.

Katniss' eyes grew wider as she realized that there were two of them.

"Them" being the type of kids that were involved in everything; student government, class presidents, Key Club members; the ones always sitting in the cafeteria asking for some sort of donation or selling some diabetes-inducing food item or taking class polls or managing the Homecoming Week raffle tables. These were the kids that got picked to read the announcements each morning because their voices were _so charismatic and bright_ (and made Katniss absolutely sick; she preferred Gale's monotone voice that was only occasionally replaced with a bitter and/or asshole-ish timbre). These were the kids that had the brightest futures, that volunteered for everything, that made everybody laugh. The kids that teachers remembered.

But Katniss wondered, who would want to be remembered here? That's nothing to write home about.

Panem was a tiny town full of snobs and farm kids, one or the other, sometimes both. Population 3,244, everybody knew everybody, and if someone didn't, they knew someone that knew someone they knew. Katniss and Gale both hated it. Gale didn't want to grow up to be the dad who coached soccer and chaperone the band trips. Katniss didn't want to be a stage mom or a soccer mom or any type of mom, really.

She knew that might change, but the one thing that would stay the same if she had kids would be that _they would not be like the ones at Panem High._

It was September, the first Wednesday of the year, and Katniss was in the Agriculture room (also known as Mr. Abernathy's classroom). Gale was on her right side and, as usual, Thresh Asaria was two seats down. Thresh was nice enough, but he inwardly hated the human race just as much as Katniss and Gale did. Because of this, Katniss wasn't the least bit offended that someone she understood so much didn't want to sit directly next to her. Gale was enough to deal with anyway.

There were plenty of other kids in the room, the same ones who have been in FFA since freshman year. Now they were juniors, and the group had hardly changed. The same kids who alternated between plaid, camo, and _Duck Dynasty _t-shirts, the same kids who missed a quarter of the year for every type of hunting imaginable. These kids carpooled in pickup trucks and played country music as if it were a religion. It didn't really bother Katniss; she fit in well enough, but she just wasn't that _extreme._ Then there were the girls who joined FFA because a) they wanted to flirt with the guys or b) they had an unhealthy obsession with horses (though horses are hardly a topic of focus, at least in PHS's branch). These girls had neon-pink sweatshirts ("Hunting gear should include pink!"), sparkly moccassins ("But they're camo!") and wore makeup in "natural" tones ("Because nobody wants to see you look like you came out of fucking Candyland." Yeah, because your neon-pink hoodie doesn't give that vibe at all.)

Katniss was simple, and so was Gale. She didn't give a fuck what she wore. If she was wearing a plaid shirt, fine. Jeans, fine. Hell, of course she owned some neon pink and a few pairs of yoga pants. But who cared anyway?

She didn't, if it wasn't obvious by now.

So the crowd hadn't changed much, aside from some incoming freshmen that Katniss knew anyway because they had older siblings or because they'd volunteered at FFA events before.

Except for the fact that, you know, two of the richest kids in Panem were in the room.

"Shut up," Katniss rolled her eyes, "you're more than happy that Madge turned up this year. Only God knows why, though."

Gale sighed. Katniss had always teased him about his crush on Madge, though as far as Katniss knew, it was just that - teasing.

"We've been _through_ this," Gale said, running his hands through his hair. "She's -"

"Yeah, I know," Katniss rolled her eyes again. "'She's really fucking hot, but she dresses like a fucking doll, and I don't trust anybody who has nearly all of the school at their feet.'"

"Damn," Gale smirks, leaning in to Katniss so that his lips are on her jaw. He kisses her lightly. "You know me too well."

Katniss shivers. "Shit, they're coming over here."

Sure enough, Madge and Peeta were fast approaching their table. Katniss exhaled deeply, hoping all the bitchy remarks she had on her breath exited with it. She couldn't stand Peeta or Madge, but there were no real reasons to hate them. They were too damn nice, was all, and that wasn't a reason to be an ass to someone. And Katniss didn't want to purposely do anything that would make someone laugh at the Everdeen name; high school would be hell for Prim even without Katniss having a reputation.

"Hi, Katniss, Gale," Madge said brightly, and Peeta grinned, nodding at both of them.

"Hi," Katniss said, trying to feign a smile. Gale didn't say anything; Katniss kicked him in the shin.

"Shit! - Hey, guys," he said, clearly annoyed. Katniss shot him a look.

"Um," Madge bit her lip, obviously put off by this exchange. "I just wanted to say it's nice to see you here. I hope it's a great year."

"We've been in FFA since ninth grade," Gale says. "I'm sure it'll be just as fun with you here as it was without you here."

Katniss wouldn't have ever thought she would witness it, but Madge definitely shot Gale a look to end all looks; it kind of looked out of place for her overall demeanor, but Gale shut up.

"Gale's just bitter because he's too drunk to remember the sex he has at the club bonfires," Katniss jabs. She understood Gale's mood, but did he have to be such a dick?

"I'm sure," Peeta said dryly, his voice oddly un-chipper.

"Fuck off," Gale muttered. Katniss kicked him again.

"Well, it's nice to see you both, too," Katniss said brightly. "Though I have to ask, what suddenly piqued your interest?"

"What do you mean?" Madge asked.

"She means," Gale snaps, "that neither one of you live on a fucking farm. Pretty sure you've lived in huge-ass mansions your whole lives."

"Condos," Peeta corrected, clearing his throat.

"Hm?" Gale asked, raising an eyebrow at Peeta.

"I said we live in condos," Peeta said louder. "This is _Panem._ Not Watch Hill."

"Whatever," Gale rolled his eyes.

"Anyway," Peeta said, draping an arm over Madge's shoulder, "we're juniors now. We want to branch out and try everything before we graduate. FFA is one of the few organizations we have no experience in."

"Shocker." Guess who that remark came from.

"Well, that's nice," Katniss grinned, kicking Gale again. "I hope the, um, branching out, works and everything."

"Thanks!" the blondes both chimed, their voices suddenly too sweet for Katniss' taste. Mr. Abernathy entered the room and the roars of chatter faltered slightly. Madge turned around, scanning the seating arrangement. Katniss rolled her eyes yet again as she noticed Madge's nose crinkle in disgust/disappointment.

"Katniss, would you mind if I sat by y-"

"Thresh!" Suddenly, a little girl came running into the room, pushing past Madge, muttering an apology.

And hell, Katniss never thought she'd see it, but Thresh broke out into the biggest smile she'd ever seen.

"Rue!" he said excitedly. "You get lost?"

The little girl, with her light brown skin and tight dark curls, sighed in the most dramatic and adorable way possible. "Maybe."

"Sit down," Thresh chuckled, patting the seat next to him. Katniss' eyes flicked up to Madge, hoping to see annoyance flash across it, but to no avail. Madge was biting her lip, smiling, a facial expression that would look stupid on anyone that wasn't Madge Undersee.

Rue took the seat next to Katniss that had been empty for as long as Katniss could remember. The girl, who Katniss now knew must be a freshman, looked up at Katniss with huge, bashful eyes. Katniss smiled.

Rue smiled back, and when Katniss looked up, she noticed that Madge and Peeta sat on opposite sides of the room sandwiched in between the stereotypical FFA kids.

"Welcome to the...first meeting of the...the Future F-Farmers of America," Mr. Abernathy, obviously a little buzzed (not off of his summer drinking habits yet), announced. It was only at PHS where nobody gave a fuck so much that they'd let a teacher's buzzed behavior slide. Their excuse was most likely that he was an Ag teacher, who taught a grand total of three classes; these teachers didn't have the same standards as an Advanced Calc professor who taught AP students five out of the seven periods a day. It was unfair, but such was small town life.

Katniss sat back and smiled. This year ought to get interesting.


End file.
